Last night, during my ride home in the rain, I picked up a goathead that had washed onto the trail. so, I'm thinking I might upgrade my tires, currently the Specialized all-seasons that came with the bike.

So, my choices are,

1. Specialized Armadillos (or some variant thereof)
2. Schwalbe Marathons (or some variant thereof)
3. Bontrager Hardace
4. Forte Gothams
5. Other

I can get everything locally except the Schwalbes. No one I've called stocks them, so I'll have to order them online. Not a major problem, I'd just rather get tires on Saturday and be done with it is all. The Schwalbes seem to be the most recommended flat resistant tire from what I've read here on BF.

The Forte's are ~$15.00 ea, but I don't think they're on the same level with the other three as far as flat resistance goes. I had them on my old bike, and they seemed like decent tires. Low rolling resistance, good grip.

I know very little about the Armadillos and the Hardcases, other than I'll probably find them to be a bit stiffer and more rolling resistance. Resistance isn't an issue for me, so long as it's not like I'm pedaling through mud or something.

So, which ones? I'm really only interested in the Forte tires because they're less than half the price of any of the others. If the flat resistance is as good, then great. Otherwise, I don't mind spending the extra money for better protection.

Marathon Supreme

I used to do Gatorskin ultras, but they're far too pricey for me. Now I run a pair of Serfas Seca tires at $25 a pop on Amazon with free shipping. Good flat resistance for a small price.

+1, but pricy on the Marathon Supremes. Very nice ride (40C)

not sure what tire size you want.

I have good immunity with Armadillo 26x1.95, thick inner tubes, and Slime.
But it's very heavy.
My rear tire now has 15000+ miles with no flats, the front has 8000 miles... your mileage might vary.

I voted "other" which, in my case, means Vittoria Randonneur Pro tires. I have pulled out many goathead thorns from these tires, and not one of them has flatted a tube. One day last week I pulled two out of the rear tire and one out of the front tire after my morning commute.

I have Schwalbe Marathon Plus's on my commute bike, and my utility bike, between the two I have just under 12K flat free miles on SMPs between the two bikes.
They are hard to mount, so what I do is order them via my LBS, and then let the LBS mount them on my rims

Vittoria Randonneur's are my personal favorite. There's many models, get the regular or pro. The only downside is the lowish max PSI rating, but unless you're over 250ish lbs or run very narrow tires it won't matter.

Hardcases are crap in every way IMO.
Anything with just kevlar isn't very effective for things like goatheads (it's just string, easily poked through.)
Kevlar is a "better than nothing" protection material, it's faster and lighter than a dense rubber compound under the tread, but much less effective.

One flat and you're going to get new tires? That seems excessive, unless whatever cause the puncture ripped your tire to shreds.

Tires go flat, **** happens.